A rough start on the Canterbury coast, my first proper drone flight, and some rig shark action

🌊 A rough start

We arrived at the fishing spot just before 7am, and as soon as I opened the car door I could hear the surf was up.
A short walk to check the surf confirmed my suspicions. The swell looked well above the 0.4m forecast.

I wasn’t too bothered, though — conditions like this are often good for rig.

First cast of the morning

Despite the rough conditions, we were still able to get a sinker locked in beyond the breakers. Paddle crabs were the first bait on the menu, but we were mindful of making them last since we only had about 10 between us.

🚁 Drone’s First Flight

After about 1–2 hours with no action on the fishing front, I decided to take my new DJI Air 3S drone up for its first flight. I purchased this drone primarily for capturing footage and scoping out fishing spots, but I do plan to buy a fishing bait release (such as the Gannet) at some stage in the future.

At first I was a bit apprehensive sending the drone out over the sea. Prior to this trip, I’d only done a few conservative flights on the back lawn at home. But my nerves quickly settled, and my focus shifted to being in awe of the live ocean footage coming through on the controller screen.

I was relieved when the drone returned and landed safely. My roll-up rod bag now doubles as a drone landing pad and, at about 1.2m square, it’s more than big enough. I wouldn’t feel comfortable landing the Air 3S on the stony beach.

My DJI Air 3S (bottom) and Dave's Aeroo Pro (top)

🦈 Dave's Drone Drop and Rig Shark

Shortly after my first drone flight, Dave dropped a bait out at about 270m with his Aeroo Pro drone. Around 30 minutes passed without any action on the fishing front. Then, just as I was about to cast, I noticed Dave hauling a decent rig up the beach.

I had assumed the bend in his rod was from the heavy 10oz sinker he was using, and I’m not sure he even realised he had a fish on!

Dave with a rig shark caught via Aeroo Pro bait drop

I was hopeful more rig were on the way, so I kept persevering with crab and prawn baits.

🚁 Quiet fishing and another drone flight

After another hour or so without any action on my paddle crab or prawn baits, I decided to take my drone up for another flight. This time I felt more confident and started getting used to flying while watching the controller screen rather than tracking the drone visually.

That said, it’s recommended to maintain visual contact with the drone at all times, so I made sure to glance up at it every now and then.

Mid-morning DJI drone shot

🦈 School Shark and Dogfish Bycatch

By around 11am, we were down to using prawns or salted kahawai for bait. The sea was starting to clean up, and I was hopeful of catching a gurnard — but all that was interested were small school sharks and dogfish.

I persevered for quite a while but ended up landing more dogfish and school sharks than I could count. I have a feeling a couple of the fish I dropped might have been gurnard, since they fight reasonably hard for their size and put a decent headshake down the line.

Dogfish bycatch

🚁🪂 Final drone flight and a paraglider

By early afternoon, I had pretty much given up on the fishing, so I decided to take my drone up for some more practice. The cloud cover had cleared, along with the sea conditions, which meant I was able to capture some stunning footage.

Early afternoon DJI drone shot

A paraglider turned up soon after, which was impressive to watch — but also meant drone flights had to stop for the day.

Not the most productive trip for fishing, but an epic day to test the new drone and take in the scenery.

📓 Field Notes

• Location: Canterbury
• Target species: Gurnard, rig shark, elephant fish
• Landed: Rig shark, school shark, dogfish
• Conditions: Light winds, 0.9m swell easing to 0.6m, discoloured water early, clearing by midday
• Best bait: Raw banana prawns for rig
• My gear: Shimano Xitus Pro 13'6" rods (x2), Shimano Ultegra CI4+ 14000 XTC reel, Shimano Ultegra XSD 14000 reel

🎥 Watch the Full Video

The full mission, including the drone footage and catch-and-cook, is available on my YouTube channel.

👉 Watch it on YouTube

Got any feedback or questions? Feel free to drop a comment on the YouTube video — I read them all.

— Dan